Over the past decade coworking spaces have been popping up in big cities across the nation and with the changes in the economy, these spaces have been successful in fostering new ideas and startup businesses.

804RVA Founder Larkin Garbee Photo by: Phil Riggan, Richmond.com

In America the median income for independent workers is about $51 thousand, according to a 2012 government report by the State of Independence government report. This coworking movement has even made its way to the Richmond market. 804RVA is the area’s first and only official co-working space, which is fueled by creativity and techie innovation.

Coworking is a concept that was originally cultivated in the late 1990s from the term “jelly” in New York City by a group of freelancers and it has now evolved into a worldwide movement. The concept is to create a shared workspace for freelancers, consultants and other people who typically work from home. The idea is to develop a space where creativity and new ideas can grow and people can exchange designs while working productively and freely.

804RVA was founded October 2011 by local small business dynamo, Larkin Garbee. “I was just looking for a creative, collaborative office space and I hadn’t understood the coworking culture yet,” Garbee said. Wolf shirt days, creativity, collaboration and jelly pretty much sum up the co-working movement at RVA. 804RVA is located on the corner of Allen and Broad streets near the VCU campus.

Garbee’s personality and experience is the model that the 804RVA coworking structure was built around. “I have a passion for technology but I also represent a lot of other things for small businesses and marketing,” she said.

804RVA is an artistic, joint office area that is built in the showroom of Garbee’s other business, James River Tile. “I felt like it was a shame to have such a really gorgeous location that was being completely underutilized,” said Garbee. It wasn’t long before 804RVA was created.
“I think Larkin is really kind of the main reason most people are attracted to this and keep coming and that’s because she is a freaking fireball,” said Dorsey McFadden a digital marketing consultant and 804RVA coworker.

804RVA provides its members with varying levels of coworking zones including private offices, collaborative spaces, semi-private work areas and conference rooms. People come to 804RVA for a number of reasons including the value of working with others, for a sense of motivation, inspiration and unique networking opportunities. At 804RVA coworking gives people an opportunity to meet and interact with their peers in an environment that facilitates productivity and learning.

“To me and the next generation as a whole, we don’t want to just spend our time just passing out business cards. We want to learn, we want to get our hands on stuff and figure out how it works,” Garbee said. “Some coworking spaces are unique to having strictly just developers or just designers and I would say ours is truly a mix.”

Coworkers at 804RVA come from a variety of professional backgrounds such as web design, real estate, copy writing, web developing, marketing and researching.

804RVA is known for its culture because it is different from that of a traditional workplace culture, since there are no bosses there is no tension between supervisors and workers. “The culture changes day-to-day depending on who comes in,” said Dan Kanach, 804RVA coworker and owner of One Duck Creative, a small creative media company. “It is generally like-minded, driven people who want to be around other driven people.” Most 804 coworkers agree that 804RVA provides a fun environment where individuals are free to create and collaborate. “I couldn’t see myself working with other people if I wasn’t here,” Kasach said, who described himself as a bit of an introvert.

Matt Russo is another 804RVA coworker who has been a member almost since the beginning. Russo is a freelance graphic designer and is currently working developing projects for 804RVA. He says 804 is still trying to invent its culture. Currently people are working hands-on trying to make the space a more active community rather than a place used strictly for working. “Members are trying to make 804RVA a place where people interact together, work on projects together and go out together,” Russo said. 804RVA offers classes and organizes social events to strengthen the overall coworking community.

Brian Bassett is a software development principal at IBM and a coworker at 804RVA who chooses to work from 804RVA instead of his traditional office setting because he finds the environment to be more dynamic, exciting, interesting and collaborative. “It’s collaborative even though people work on their own projects, work for different businesses and have different goals,” Basset said.

Coworking is especially helpful to freelancers and remote workers because it provides those people with a sense of community and inspiration. “It creates a melting pot of creativity,” McFadden said, “not just design creative but techie too.” McFadden sees coworking spaces as motivational tools and she is driven by the office setting because it pushes her to be more accountable.

Coworking facilities like 804RVA operate based on memberships and provide members with better quality networking and stronger relationships. McFadden says small business people get the most out of these networking connections because it makes it easier access others and collaborate.

Coworking has helped some members break into new, cutting edge technology-based job markets. McFadden says coworking helps to hone professional skills and mold individual qualities and as a result of 804RVA she landed her first Pinterest account management job.

After talking with Garbee and Richmond’s coworkers the consensus is that people are tired of waiting on big companies to offer up jobs so they have taken matters into their own hands and created new jobs and projects through collaboration. People often turn to coworking spaces like 804RVA because of the lack of opportunities in traditional careers.

Some people agree with Dorsey McFadden and Dan Kanach and say coworking spaces serve a greater purpose as more transitional occupations. On the other hand others agree with Russo and Bassett and say these collaboration spaces have great potential to ultimately lead to better opportunities and new industries. As for Larkin Garbee, she says the future looks bright for coworking spaces in Richmond. As new ideas grow and evolve, she looks forward to playing host to more collaborative projects and classes in the future. She is currently planning on a larger scaled coworking space that will serve a larger community in the Greater Richmond Area by making things more accessible to non-members.

There are very few restaurants that have the distinction of having been successfully run for 16+ years 20 years [editor’s note: confirmed after posting that the start year was 1993!], and even more rare is the restaurant that has done so with only one set of owners. Avalon Restaurant & Bar at 2619 West Main Street, in the Fan District, has done so under the care of owner Peter Harahan since he first renovated and opened it so many years ago.

Walied Sanie and James Baldwin just completed the purchase of Avalon Restaurant & Bar

Congratulations to the new owners, Walied Sanie and James Baldwin (pictured), who took the reins from Peter Harahan effective late yesterday afternoon. The new owners are keeping the staff in place and will do some remodeling after getting settled into ownership. I look forward to seeing how their vision of the restaurant develops and the changes you will make happen over the years to come.

This particular restaurant holds a special place in my heart because not only have I been close friends with a number of the staff here over the years, but also it is the place where I met my wife several years ago. It means a lot to me to have been involved in this deal, and I appreciate that it will remain to be Avalon under the new ownership.

**Richard Holden and Nathan Hughes, both with Bandazian & Holden, Inc., brokered the sale of the business and coordinated the new lease with the owner of the building.

Here at Bandazian & Holden, we are proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the 2nd Annual Richmond Magazine Elby Awards! This awards program is THE restaurant awards program for Richmond, Virginia and was a hit from the start, last year. This is a time when the stars of the Richmond restaurant scene (some of the ongoing conversation can be found under #rvadine in the Twitterverse) take time out to honor the best and brightest among them.

I have not been involved in the selection or judging processes, but I don’t envy such a difficult decision. We have a lot of great talent and passionate operators and chefs here in town, and I hope that these awards will continue to honor and encourage more talent to develop.

If you are in any way involved in the restaurant scene, I encourage you to buy tickets and attend. Come support your favorite spots!

The event is on Sunday, February 10, 2013 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the doors open at 6pm. The awards are held at 6:30pm with a reception afterwards.

2013 NOMINEES

Fine Dining Restaurant

Acacia Mid-town

Arcadia

Julep’s

Lemaire

New Restaurant(Opened between Nov. 1 2011 and Oct. 31, 2012)

Deco Ristorante

Heritage

Peter Chang China Café

Tio Pablo

Excellence in Service

Tiffany Gellner of The Magpie

Paul Heitz at Amour

Wendy Kalif at Bistro Bobette

John Van Peppen at Arcadia

Upscale Casual

Pasture

The Roosevelt

Sapori

Stella’s

Cocktail Program

Heritage

Lemaire

Pasture

The Roosevelt

Rising Culinary Star

Kyle Cox of Patina

Carly Herring of the Dining Room at the Berkeley

Jen Mindell of Avalon

Mike Yavorsky of Belmont Food Shop

Neighborhood Restaurant

Africanne on Main

The Black Sheep

Kuba Kuba

Tastebuds American Bistro

Restaurateur of the Year

Jason Alley of Comfort & Pasture

Kendra Feather of Garnett’s, Ipanema & The Roosevelt

Ren Mefford and Chris Tsui of EAT Restaurant Partners

Paul Keevil of Millie’s, LuLu’s and Tio Pablo

Chef of the Year

Tim Bereika of Secco Wine Bar

Peter Chang of Peter Chang China Café

Lee Gregory of The Roosevelt

Dale Reitzer of Acacia Mid-town

Culinary Student of the Year

Dana Goodchild at Culinard

Stephanie Louise Boehles at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College

Jean Marie Kennedy at University of Richmond’s Center for Culinary Arts

Who are you hoping will win? Who isn’t mentioned on this list that you think deserved to be on there? I would love to hear what you think!

There has been a lot of attention given to the recent closings of restaurants in the Richmond area. There have been a lot lately, no doubt — here is a list of closings this year from Richmond.com that they are keeping up-to-date as things change. Some of these have been big surprises to the community at large, but it is important to keep in mind a few things.

Not all businesses close (or are for sale) because of poor sales. There are a variety of reasons:

personal issues (divorce, wanting to spend more time with children, need to take care of an elderly parent, the owner has an illness)

the business strategy has changed (the owners no longer want to be in a particular area of town, the owners only want to operate where they own the building)

the owners are absentee and have other full-time jobs that are suffering because of the demands of owning a restaurant

the business is on track to make a profit but the owners have run out of operating capital

the owner is burned out, having spent the last XX number of years in the same location

the owners realize that the best time to sell is when business is booming — cash out while things are good and maximize the sales price

poor money management — sales might be great, but if you don’t manage your money well then you won’t stay open for long

the landlord isn’t willing to renew the lease — maybe they have a better offer from another prospective tenant

the owner isn’t changing, but they are changing the concept

I have seen all of these over the 8 years that I have been brokering restaurant deals and I am absolutely certain that I haven’t seen everything. There is always something new in this business, for good and bad.

There is also the counterbalancing effect of new restaurants opening up. Karri Peifer, Editor and Food Writer at Richmond.com, has been keeping track:

Another restaurant that has gotten a lot of press coverage for its closing is Cafe Diem, at the corner of Patterson Ave and N Sheppard St in the Museum District — and right beside our office at 604 N Sheppard St. Since our company is involved in the ownership and management of their building, and most of the commercial property in the area, the media turned to us for some insight.

I think the press has done an excellent job with the coverage on this closing. It is often a touchy subject, not only for the restaurant owner(s) but the landlord, the restaurant employees, the loyal patrons, the restaurant vendors, and even the surrounding businesses.

In short, there are lots of reasons why restaurants close. Sure, times are tough all around and lots of people are cutting back on spending, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. If anything, if you enjoy a particular restaurant, be sure to visit it plenty and enjoy it while it’s here. It is fun to always look for the next big thing, but don’t forget about the old favorites either. — By the way, there are LOTS of new restaurants coming soon. Keep an eye out here for announcements!

This movement plays a big role by boosting the economy and generating more jobs in the community.

Although sometimes the costs may be slightly higher at locally owned businesses, there are many benefits, such as lower transportation costs, more eco-friendly communities and the opportunity to form growing relationships with local business owners.

Buying local also alerts the community about the gaps in the market, creating a stronger sense of entrepreneurship and pushing for new businesses to prosper in markets that hadn’t previously existed locally.

Originally created as a project at VCU, ShopRVA is a smallernonprofit made up of local businesses, organizations, and individuals who are joined together to promote the culture and individuality of RVA. ShopRVA was created in 2009 and works to make RVA more green, economically and environmentally. Their goal is to make Richmond businesses into a strong foundation for a thriving local economy.

“ShopRVA is new and filled with so much potential, people should listen to what they have to offer,” said Micah West, a student who worked with ShopRVA at VCU’s 2012 Social Media Institute.“They support the great things we have in the Richmond area and they want to express the creativity and personality of Richmond.”

These organizations work to remind us what makes Richmond such a unique city and they highlight why RVA is a wonderful place to live, eat, work and shop. With local restaurants on nearly every block, small markets throughout the Fan, and unique stores and boutiques in neighborhoods like Carytown and Libbie & Grove it is easy to shop RVA.

We found this pretty interesting article on workitrichmond.com the other day about VCU’s latest technological and economic developments happening across the Richmond region. Over the past 15 years, the university has been pushing for technological advancements such as new medicines, new business partnerships and student work opportunities to create lasting relationships between local businesses and the university.

In the last year, VCU’s Technology Transfer office has helped kick start their economic development efforts. The office is a resource that helps connect students with an industry and works to transfer their ideas and inventions from the university to the local business community.

Some of VCU’s recent successesinclude:

A new FDA regulatory clearance for EViTAR, a catheter for drug and cell delivery.

Commercialization of EmergenOx, a device which provides medical-grade humidified oxygen in emergencies.

Licensing by Finis, Inc. for the marketing of SwiMP3, a waterproof recreational audio-device that transmits sound, using bone conduction.

Since VCU is a thriving creative community, the assistance of this program is essential because it provides students with resources and counseling to help get their ideas developed and sold into the Richmond marketplace.

Nicole Colomb, who has been hired to oversee VCU’s new push for economic development efforts, said forging closer ties with the business community will benefit the region by raising the university’s stature while creating jobs and attracting industry here.

The Tech Transfer office has become a great resource for economic development across Richmond, as serves as a liaison between local businesses and VCU. As a resource for students to connect and create new ideas, the office generates innovations in the local economy.

So what do you think VCU’s Tech Transfer program can do for Richmond? A more creative marketplace, stronger regional economy, more entrepreneurship and more RVA based businesses and ideas.

A recent survey by Gallup showed Richmond, Va. in the top five metro areas for job creation out of the 50 largest United States Metropolitan areas. Richmond came in third behind Pittsburg, Pa. and Oklahoma City, Ok. as number one. More than 30% of employers are hiring and just over 14% are laying off workers.

Cantor, the R-7th and the House Majority Leader, toured the da Vinci Center-a collaboration of VCU’s School of the Arts, Business and Engineering-and was impressed with the presentations by two groups of students. “What I saw was a remarkable effort to bring the many assets of VCU together toward creativity and innovation,” he said.

The students are participating in a paid summer internship program, a program he also said encourages the want for students to create job opportunities that contribute to the markets growth in Richmond. Once the presentations were completed “Cantor asked how many of them are interested in becoming “job creators” later in life. Almost all of them raised their hands,” according to the workitrichmond.com article.

Each group is collaborating on real world projects for two Richmond businesses using their diverse backgrounds. One group is working on a project with The Martin Agency to make Tylenol dosing simpler and more accessible for parents. The other group is evaluating the Mary Frances Youth Center and coming up with ways to help the organization stay out of debt.

Future job innovators, like these VCU students, add to the growing list of Richmond jobs and job postings seen on websites like Indeed.com. The job search website stated that “the Richmond, Va. job market is strong compared to the rest of the U.S.” Job postings had a national decline of 32% while Richmond’s only had a 19% decline.

According to a The New York Times’ Economix blog post, surrounding Richmond cities, like Virginia Beach, have the highest proportion of employers laying off workers.

The da Vinci Center will continue to merge creativity, diversity and business minded students together to help create innovative projects for job creation in the fall for the launch of its master’s program. Kenneth Kahn, the center’s director, said students will “come in with an idea and leave with a business.”

The Seven Hills of Richmond seem to have always been a controversial topic in RVA. Today, many people consider the Seven Hills to be a myth.

The truth is, the official Seven Hills were declared in a 1937 ordinance by the City of Richmond but the ordinance was never passed.

Since then, the confusion has only grown larger. In 1947 The Richmond Times Dispatch published an article that attempted to clear the air about the Seven Hills. The article said that there were various lists of Richmond’s original hills and the hills that were found in 1937 were not accepted by the City Council.

Although the Seven Hills were never made official,those neighborhoods have shaped the city’s history and are a part of what make RVA unique.

Church Hill is Richmond’s first neighborhood and home to most of RVA’s original 32 blocks. The Church Hill area is filled with Richmond’s oldest history from the red brick sidewalks and gas street lamps to the classical architectural styles.

The center of the historic district is St. John’s Church, built in 1741, it’s where Church Hill gets its name.

St. John’s is the only Colonial structure in the area that remains intact.

During the 18th century Church Hill was the stomping ground for America’s early revolutionaries, like Patrick Henry. Who’s most well known for his “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech at St. John’s Church in 1775.

The history of Church Hill radiates from the streets since most of the area’s real estate was built before the Civil War.

The classic architecture is what makes Church Hill one of Richmond’s most unique neighborhoods.

Architectural styles on display throughout the neighborhood include: Greek Revival, Italianate, Federal, and Queen Anne. By the 19th century Church Hill was booming and the population in Richmond had reached 5,730.

People began moving to the area for job opportunities in local tobacco factories like the Pohlig Box Factory located on 25th street just blocks away from St. John’s Church. Tobacco factories and industrial buildings provided Church Hillians with jobs and boosted the local population…

The first step towards bringing mass transit to Richmond, the idea of BRT is to have a large passenger bus run on a dedicated track lane that will bring large amounts of travelers to point-to-point destinations.

Ultimately, the BRT system will lay the foundation for an INTER-city passenger rail service, the “Light Rail,” to connect the whole Central VA region; from Norfolk to Petersburg to Fredericksburg to Washington, DC.

“VHSR hosted the meeting, because we felt there is so much positive news happening right now, in terms of rail development throughout Virginia. Norfolk launched a Light Rail system called “The Tide” in August 2011, and in less than a year has exceeded more than one million riders. More than 50,000 riders used the Light Rail service this past weekend alone.

Richmond needs to take this same initiative. As an organization, VHSR wants to highlight all of our successes, including Norfolk, and focus on utilizing these models in other VA cities such as Richmond.”

As for what VSHR’s 2012 plans mean for Richmond business, Plaugher reveals the City’s latest plans for mass transit, details of where BRT will run and answers some burning questions weighing on the mind of Richmond residents.

Have you noticed a recent spike in your monthly rent? A lot of people have, and it’s a trend not only locally but in markets across the country.

According to http://news.investors.com, over the past several years homeowning has become more difficult and former homeowners are now becoming tenants in mulitifamily dwellings. Due in large part to the economic downturn, many homeowners today can no longer afford to pay a monthly mortgage and instead are resorting to the next alternative: renting apartments.

As with most news, this is a mixed bag — it’s not good for renters, but it does make for a strong market for multifamily properties, supporting higher sales prices and spurring new development and redevelopment of multifamily properties. (see last week’s post about local development for current examples of this happening right here in Richmond)

Across the nation, multifamily properties are leading in occupancy and rent growth when compared to commercial developments, like office space and retail properties.

Did you know that (according to the National Restaurant Association) for every $1 spent in any of Virginia’s restaurants, 97 cents of that dollar goes back to helping build revenue for the Virginia economy?

Well, this coming Sunday, June 3rd will prove to be a HUGE boost for Richmond restaurants as well as the Virginia economy with the 5th Annual Broad Appetit Festival, happening downtown in Richmond’s Arts District.

The highly anticipated festival, which runs from 11 AM – 6 PM, will stretch from the 100 to 300 blocks of West Broad Street and give Richmond natives, visitors, families, students and foodies alike a great sampling of the diverse, eclectic Richmond restaurant scene.

Food prices will range from $3.00-$5.00 a plate as well as offer a variety of combos and mixed plates.

This will be the first time in festival history that Broad Appetit will feature exclusive Virginia beers and its first ever People’s Choice Awards, where festival attendees can vote for their favorite dishes.

To give back to the Richmond community, Broad Appetit is donating a percentage of proceeds from the festival to the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. Last year, a record crowd of over 30,000 gathered for last year’s festival, making Broad Appetit Richmond’s largest dining festival in Richmond’s history.

Broad Appetit plays host to live music and events for all ages. It is the place where food and art intersect.

So, while you’re gearing up a hefty appetite for Broad Appetit on Sunday, take a walk around Richmond and experience the flavor that this eclectic city has to offer.

Which restaurant are you looking forward to trying out most at the festival?

For all you dessert enthusiasts out there anticipating the next sweets shop to open up in Carytown, the time is almost here! Among a bevy of bakeries, sweets and confectionery shops, Carytown will be adding to its list of sweets shops a bigger location for Carytown Cupcakes and a new dining spot for French cuisine: Carytown Creperie.

Carytown Cupakes, a Richmond tradition known for its decadent desserts, is opening its new location at 3111 West Cary Street, across from Can Can Brasserie. A grand opening date for the new location is still up in the air, but owners Dawn & Albert Schick promise the new and improved cupcake boutique is coming soon with even better cupcake concoctions. (Meanwhile, the old location at 2820 West Cary Street is still open!)

After the big move, the former cupcake shop will be magically transformed into Carytown Creperie, a new crepe shop featuring the traditional French-inspired cuisine with a twist: fast, take-away crepes for on-the-go dining.

Five years ago, Rocketts Landing – the rural neighborhood of Richmond bordering Downtown and Churchill along the James River – was desolate, barren and considered as just a watering hole by local fisherman. It was pretty much unheard of by the general public.

Two years ago, that all changed with The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing opening in 2010 and The Conch Republic soon after in 2011. The area was completely transformed into an attractive, scenic stretch of restaurants along the James and tourists, visitors, locals, couples, families and Richmond-ers flocked like seagulls.

Today, Rockett’s Landing is making an even bigger splash. One of the Richmond area’s biggest law firms, Brown Greer, is relocating its headquarters to the 38,000-square-foot Cedar Works Building along the riverfront on Dock Street.

Although the building still needs to be renovated, there are major factors in favor of moving to Rocketts, according to Principal Orran Brown: convenient parking, the location, and the long-term prospects of what Rocketts Landing could develop into.

In the mean time, be sure to visit Rocket’s Landing on Sunday, May 27th for Rocketts Red Glare. The event will feature the Kings of Swingband and a fireworks display to benefit the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton.

RICHMOND, VA (May 24, 2012) – BlackFinn American Saloon, located at 1001 Haxall Point, today announced its plans to sell the restaurant to a local ownership group. The restaurant will remain closed until a sale is completed and the new ownership group has finalized its rebranding of the current space.

BlackFinn has been the sole restaurant tenant of the mixed-use Riverside on the James development since it first opened its doors in 2006. The new tenant will benefit from the revitalization plans that are in place for the surrounding Canal Walk area.

“With the efforts to update and expand the current offerings in the area, we feel that this is a good time and opportunity for both seller and buyer,” said BlackFinn operating partner Ryan Golbitz. “It’s been six terrific years and we are grateful for the support and the business that our community has provided.”

Details of the new restaurant’s name and theme are expected to be announced closer to the reopening date, estimated around fall of 2012.

About once a month I get a question about the large, vacant property that borders Staples Mill Road that is just north of West Broad Street, right over the Henrico Count line. My answer is always that it was an old, rundown neighborhood that was purchased and cleared with the intention of rebuilding, and that the developer is the same group that is doing the project at Monument Avenue and Willow Lawn Drive — Gumenick Properties. As to why it hasn’t been started, well just look around at new building all around the country. The developer was obviously waiting until the economy turns around.

But, I always have to give that answer with the caveat that the last official word I had heard about it was a few years ago. I couldn’t even be sure that the same plans were in place. Thankfully I can point to this article on Richmond.com that gives us the lowdown on the current situation — which is pretty much as described as above. It sounds as though things are just on hold, but the same big plans are still on the books. In fact, this project is expected to take 10 years even once they finally get underway.

You need to go read the article to see all of the reported details, but I thought I would share a couple of details of the plans here:

Being involved in helping start-ups in Richmond, we often get invitations to attend sessions put on by the Economic Development departments of the local governments. When we get them, I’ll make sure to post them here for your reference. The ones I’ve attended in the past have been extremely helpful and great brush ups on the resources that the localities provide for small business.

Here is the email from the City of Richmond that we received regarding the upcoming event:

As part of our ongoing efforts to provide you with valuable information & resources, the City of Richmond Department of Economic and Community Development-Business First Richmond Program is pleased to announce another in our series of free educational seminars.

The City of Richmond Department of Economic & Community Development and the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will host the first in a two part series on establishing and growing your business. Part I in the series the” Entrepreneur Express Seminar” will address the basic concerns of establishing a business in Richmond. The seminar will be held Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from 8:30 am to noon at the Police Training Academy, 1202 W. Graham Road, Richmond, Virginia 23220. (See Entrepreneur Express Seminar Flyer for details) Please share this information with your clients and colleagues.

To sign up (free!), you can either register online by clicking here, or call 804-371-0058.

Oh, and make sure to let me know if you’re going to be there! Leave a comment here or at least be sure to come up and say hello when you see me there.

A common complaint in the restaurant industry here in Richmond is about how outdated and difficult (and sometimes just plain nonsensical) the ABC regulations are, especially for start-ups. Well it might finally be time for that to change:

…the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board is for the first time in 20 years reviewing and updating all of its regulations in an effort to rewrite or eliminate any antiquated and burdensome restrictions. And they’ve asked the state’s merchants to help, giving them until Oct. 17 to propose changes.

You heard them, folks. If you have an ABC license, then they want to hear from you! Be a part of the updates in the ABC laws. If you’ve seen what can be done better, now is your chance to speak up.

Where to speak up? I’m not exactly sure. I checked the Virginia ABC website and didn’t see anything specific about the initiative, but calling them directly would be a good place to start. If you do know the reporting process, please leave a comment with the information.

(Thank you to Richmond BizSense for pointing out this article in their morning email. If you’re not receiving it already, then you might want to rectify that.)

There was a rumor floating around for the past few weeks that Amy Cabaniss, the owner of Julep’s in Shockoe Bottom, was purchasing the building where Davis & Main operated a long-standing restaurant for decades. There was good reason for the rumor, because it was true!

The new restaurant will be Mint New Casual Cuisine. From all of the great ideas that I’ve heard from Amy and from the reactions I’ve heard so far from the neighbors, the Fan District will be very happy to have her there!

Congratulations on the purchase, Amy! I can’t wait to try out the new place!

There is a lot of information out there about social media and how to use it to promote your business. I read a lot of write-ups on that and enjoy learning about social media — as you can tell with my involvement as a Founding Board Member of Social Media Club of Richmond/SMCRVA (websiteTwitterFacebook page).

Since the focus of this blog is not primarily social media, I try to keep that talk to a minimum. Once in a while I come across something that I just can’t help but share. This guide* from Eloqua struck me as particularly useful and to-the-point:

Speaking of social media and SMCRVA, be sure to check out this month’s SMCRVA event where you can meet and greet Richmond’s best connected social media folks and hear our esteemed speaker, Amber Naslund:

On Thursday, August 18, SMCRVA is giving Richmonders a unique opportunity to listen and learn from Amber Naslund (@ambercadabra), world class social media pro, blogger, VP of Social Strategy for Radian6 and co-author of “The NOW Revolution”.

While we have many talented restaurateurs and chefs in Richmond, but only a handful can claim such a long-lasting impression on Richmond’s restaurant landscape as Stavros “Steve” Dikos can.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a wonderful article that commemorates his restaurant legacy. Read it — you will recognize the restaurant names! Dikos was the father of Katrina Dikos Giavos, whose husband Johnny Giavos is mentioned so much in the local restaurant scene because of their string of highly successful restaurant ventures (3 Monkeys, Kitchen 64, Sidewalk Cafe, etc).

Mr. Dikos passed away over the weekend of heart problems at the age of 85. My thoughts go to his family, and all of the people whose lives he touched, as they work through this loss.

As you may have noticed, we have Cafe Gutenberg for sale (see the big “Cafe Gutenberg – FOR SALE” in the menu above, or just click here). It’s a little bit of a different situation than normal, since usually these matters are highly confidential and even to find out the name and address of one of our business listings you would have to go through a screening process and commit to a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

In this case, the owners had decided to be upfront with their staff and even agreed to do an interview with Style Weekly about their decision to sell. Unfortunately, the article published didn’t accurately portray how the owners of Cafe Gutenberg feel about Shockoe Bottom or what they said about their reasons for selling the business.

Jason Guard, aka @rvafoodie, has given Chef Jen Mindell a chance to tell her side of the story as to why she and her partner are selling the business and to provide some background on how the past few years have been in Shockoe Bottom. Check out her guest post on Jason’s blog, Caramelized Opinions.

Government regulations are typically so complicated that not only can the lay-person not understand what they mean, but they are written in such a way that even people that think they know what is meant are left arguing completely different interpretations. Zoning regulations are no exception.

In fact, in NYC the zoning regulations are so convoluted that “In a recent case, a judge said the word “development,” which appears at least 2,500 times in the [zoning] resolution, did not mean what the city said.” (source: New York Times article — we’ll see more about that article in just a minute)

While this may not be the right approach for every locality, the idea is one that every local government should take to heart: Start building tools that puts control of the government back into the hands of the people. Sure, we elect officials to represent us and we should not be ruled by mob mentality (see: California), but the people also need to be able to understand what is being done — especially when we are expected to interpret these rules and abide by them.

I have seen far too many business and property owners try to follow the rules that have been laid out, only to find a health inspector or building inspector come in with a totally different understanding and cost the owner thousands of dollars in hard cost and lost business because the rules were not clear enough.

What do you think, Richmond? Have you had any issues with the local zoning regulations (city or county)? What would you suggest could be done to make the rules more clear?

The Museum District Association had originally ruled to oppose the redevelopment based on the original plans, but Friday they sent out a press release announcing the reversal of that position. The gist of the situation can be summed up from this one paragraph in the press release:

The Board voted 13-1 in November to oppose the original SUP and subsequently provided the applicant with detailed requests for further changes to make it more amenable to the neighborhood. The applicant responded by altering the SUP to remove vehicular ingress/egress on Nansemond Street as well as reduce the number of available uses of the property to 10 uses. The applicant also agreed to limit the usable floor space of any one tenant to no more than 25,000 square feet, ensuring there would be multiple tenants in the building and ruling out a single, larger “big box” tenant.

The whole press release can be read here on the MDA’s website (right now it’s at the top, but it will shift down the page as new releases are issued).

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the MDA’s ruling, or are the changes in the plan not enough for you? In that case, what changes would be enough to get your support for the development?

The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (A.C.O.R.N.) has worked diligently for more than a decade to “promote the purchase and renovation of vacant and abandoned buildings in Richmond’s oldest neighborhoods.” This past Friday, ACORN announced some big news that will help them in that mission, and that’s exciting for all of Richmond. I’ll let their press release speak for itself:

The Alliance is pleased and excited to announce a new step in its evolution and a greater opportunity to improve lives in Richmond. As of January 31, 2011 The Alliance will be moving to become part of the Better Housing Coalition (BHC) family as its Center for Neighborhood Revitalization. The Center will expand BHC services for the Richmond community and continue to provide educational programs and urban revitalization tools for communities and residents.

The Alliance brings to BHC both experience and programs that benefit prospective homeowners in their desire to renovate and preserve older and historic properties; and this opportunity allows The Alliance to increase its capacity of programs and services, thereby continuing its mission of conserving and rebuilding Richmond’s neighborhoods.

The Alliance executive director, David Herring, will become the vice president of BHC’s Center for Neighborhood Revitalization.

“Moving Richmond’s affordable housing climate forward often requires preserving its past,” said T.K. Somanath, president of BHC. “With the skills and knowledge The Alliance staff brings to the table, we can bolster our work to revitalize Richmond’s urban core featuring well designed, walkable developments that mix residential and commercial uses, integrating the places we live, work and shop.”

John McCann, chairman of BHC’s Board of Directors, said, “We also look forward to tapping the talents of Board members from The Alliance, who have provided unwavering support for The Alliance’s mission and outreach.”

The two organizations are delighted to be integrating programs of The Alliance into Better Housing Coalition in order to continue to strengthen Richmond communities now and for the future.

Looking for a really easy way to get some money for a charity that’s near and dear to your heart? Look no further! (not really…do this and then keep looking, because good causes can use all of the publicity and monetary support that they can get)

There is a nomination process running through November 30, 2010 (this Tuesday!) where anyone can weigh in and submit their favorite Richmond charity. Give a great reason and your pet project may just win! Tell your friends and tell the organization to rally support and get votes. The voting will run through most of December.

And the best thing about this is that everyone wins, no matter which organization actually gets the money. All of the nominees will be great non-profits that are helping make Richmond a better place to live and work.

Last Tuesday was “An Evening at Morton’s”, where a select group of individuals involved in Richmond’s restaurant community were brought together to discuss Richmond’s food culture. You can see my write-up and some useful links here.

I wanted to be sure you were aware of a few more resources that are especially useful if you weren’t able to follow along that night:

All of the participants answered some introductory questions before the panel, and the answers can be found here.

The live blog and questions from participants online were recorded and can be read in their entirety here.

I would love to hear what you thought of the discussion, and any insights you may have to share that didn’t get covered that night. There was a lot to cover, and we could have gone on for hours — so there are definitely topics that didn’t get fully discussed.

I’ve followed the ongoing series “An Evening at Morton’s” since it started off the year with a discussion on the Young Professional Business Climate, so I know that this is an exciting group and they have spun off some great discussions already.

Rather than rehash what has been said previously, I encourage you to read what Richmond.com has to say about the format of the evening and how you can participate. (nudge: go here)

[Okay, I lied. I am going to rehash just a little bit.] The masterminds behind the evening pick a topic, get experts together around a table at Morton’s Steakhouse down in Shockoe Slip, have a moderator facilitate the discussion, live blog & live tweet it, take questions and interactions with folks following along at home, record it, and release follow up posts wrapping up what was learned from the evening.

Thus is born #steakchatrva, or the long version, An Evening at Morton’s.

The topic on the table this month is Richmond’s Food Culture, which is a topic that is very near to my heart (and wallet, considering that most of what I do as a Commercial Realtor and Business Broker has to do with restaurants). I had heard of the topic and suggested some folks and angles on the topic to make things interesting. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might be asked to be at the table, so I was honored and excited to get the call.

While there are lots of people that could be included in the discussion, as evidenced by the larger than normal panel this month, there is only but so much space at the table. It is always important to note that while we are representatives of the community, we are not the end-all to the topic and need the rest of the community to step up and participate. We don’t want to lose the other voices that are equally important in the discussion.

What do you think we should be talking about? Have anything you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment or two here, if the urge should strike you. Just keep in mind that I won’t be checking the blog once the discussion is underway, so chime in on the other channels listed above to have your voice heard after 6:30pm tonight!

Richmond Restaurant week is in its 9th year. Each year, 25+ local, independently-owned restaurants gather together to get behind a cause aligned with their interest: food. The restaurants each offer a 3-course menu for a set price, this year $25.10, and donate a portion, this year $2.10, of each meal purchased to benefit Meals on Wheels in conjunction with the Central Virginia Food Bank. We’ve seen great success in years past and have donated tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry in the Richmond area. Come out and try a new place or visit your favorite restaurant and support this great cause!

RVANews.com and Richmond.com are both posting menus as they come in, and it doesn’t look like you’ll go wrong with any of the participating restaurants. In fact, I haven’t been able to choose yet because everything looks so good. At least I still have a couple of weeks to decide — but reservations should be made as early as possible because the schedules fill up fast!

Where are you going for Restaurant Week this year? Returning to an old favorite? Or trying out somewhere new? Please leave a comment to help guide folks that are experiencing Richmond Restaurant Week for the first time!

Style Weekly has an interesting article this week about a part of Richmond that has been largely ignored, Northside’s Brookland Park Boulevard. There is a lot of great information in the article, so be sure to go here and read the whole thing, but I felt like this part in particular was a great summary of the past and present of this area:

Brookland Park Boulevard was a bustling commercial corridor in the 1950s and ’60s, with popular bakeries, restaurants, a theater and a nightclub. And today, despite the many vacant buildings, several businesses still do a thriving trade.

On Saturdays, the area’s many beauty and barber shops are packed. Soul food restaurant Sam’s Kitchen is doing well, Epps says, as is his brother’s newly opened restaurant, River City Seafood. The cheerful yellow Michaela’s Bakery, which opened in 2005, sells six-layer cakes and strawberry shortcakes wholesale. Owner Michael Hatcher wishes the city would think of some way to bring more customers in — something historic, he says, or a tourist attraction. Another longtime business owner, florist Sylvia Richardson, says loiterers are the biggest deterrent to business. She says she doesn’t feel comfortable even walking to the convenience store across the street.

The one thing on which the merchants agree is that Brookland Park Boulevard has potential. Car traffic is plentiful, because the boulevard connects the city’s North Side and East End, and the area is served by two bus lines. The street has some architectural gems, such as an old theater and an ornate bank building. Richmond Community High School, a school for the gifted, moved onto the boulevard in 2009. Young people are buying up houses in nearby neighborhoods.

Brookland Park Boulevard reminds me a lot of other Richmond gems like East Grace Street near the Carpenter Center and Manchester’s Hull Street. A rich history, a questionable present, and a lot of enthusiasm and support to make the area a thriving community.

As I mentioned earlier this year in “Richmond loves its working moms“, I appreciate when the rest of the world acknowledges Richmond’s superiority in all ways. It seems there are lists for everything, and while I find it to be overkill most of the time — any list can justify itself as being relevant and highly insightful by the obvious addition of Richmond (or Virginia as a whole) to the top of its rankings.

Browse the awards and bookmark the links for future reference. Find a few that mean the most to you and let everyone know how great Richmond is! (and feel free to rub it in to friends that live in cities that ranked below us…)

If you think biking and walking should be more prominent in Richmond City’s transportation planning, then I encourage you to get out to this and participate!

Received in my email this afternoon:

Department of Planning & Development Review

CITY OF RICHMOND
News Release

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
For Immediate Release

City to Hold Public Forum on Pedestrian Biking and Trails

Richmond, VA – The city of Richmond will hold a public forum on Monday, September 20, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Carillon in Byrd Park. The forum is being held to encourage input from residents on ways to make biking and walking an integral part of the city’s transportation system.

In May 2010, Mayor Dwight C. Jones established a Pedestrian Bicycling and Trails Planning Commission to provide his administration with advice on ways to make the city more pedestrian friendly. The commission divided into work groups: Economic Development; Public Policy/Legislation; Infrastructure and Physical Design; Grants and Funding; Outreach, Education and Safety; and Metrics and Evaluation. The workgroups have studied the plans and strategies of the city of Richmond, other jurisdictions as well as those of other countries.

On Monday, four of the Commission’s work groups will present some of their recommendations for public consideration. They are: Public Policy/Legislation; Economic Development; Infrastructure and Physical Design; Outreach, Education and Safety.

Residents who are unable to attend the forum can provide input through a survey that will be posted after the public forum on the city’s website at www.Richmondgov.com.

There aren’t many restaurateurs that are so widely acclaimed and well-liked as Alain Lecomte. Richmond has lost a true talent and he will be missed. Over the years I have heard lots of high praise for both Alain and his restaurant, Chez Max. Having never met the man personally, I can’t add much that isn’t already covered in the article in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch — “Restaurateur Alain Lecomte dies at 46” (so go read it, *nudge*)

I think he captured the feel of Richmond very well, and the piece was well thought through. Granted, it’s a certain piece of Richmond and there are plenty more aspects that weren’t covered, but hey…he was only visiting for short time! It’s hard to get the full view even while you’re living here.

Feel free to leave comments here on RVA Business, but it might be better to leave comments on their site to keep the discussion going.

Everyone can now rest easy, dancing will no longer be tolerated in the City of Richmond! (Well, when I say “everyone can now rest easy”, I really mean everyone except for those pesky dancers.) From what I hear, dancing brings about all sorts of immorality so I am relieved that we won’t have dirty dancers parading around making light of the city’s laws. (My research really is confined to movies from the first half of certain movies from the 80’s)

I’m actually a little confused because visitors or transplants to the city are always complaining about how there aren’t many dance clubs here anyways.

As a tribute to the new City ordinance, here’s a video of some scenes from the movie Footloose:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROSYW25vhc]

Actually, this ordinance is nothing new here in the Richmond metro area. Chesterfield and Henrico have been issuing permits (or NOT issuing permits, depending on who you talk to) for a couple of years now.

Here are a few links about the stink from last year about Chesterfield and dance permits:

Given the info in this post at The Urbanophile, I sure hope we do!
The author is specifically talking about Buffalo, New York, but this is an issue that most cities of any substantial size have to wrestle with all of the time. I can’t count all of the times I’ve heard people complain about parking in downtown Richmond — and I know that I have at certain times/events.

Here’s an excerpt that I felt summed up the key point of the post to me:

Downtown can never compete with suburban office parks on the basis of convenient and affordable parking. To compete successfully on that basis would mean the destruction of all of downtown’s remaining (and emerging) value.

By definition, downtown can never out-compete the suburbs on suburban, automobile-based terms. By necessity, parking takes up a tremendous amount of land, creating lots of dead, open space, which the suburbs have plenty of. In fact, that’s the suburbs’ main asset: lots of open space. A city’s main amenity is not open land, but density, walkability, a diverse mix of uses, and the quality of the streets and other public spaces. These are the areas in which the suburbs cannot out-compete downtown.

That doesn’t mean that we should ignore parking entirely. Complaints about parking are a symptom, not the actual problem.

Parking will always be an issue if everyone is coming from out of town to visit the downtown. More importantly, we should focus on bringing more businesses and residents downtown — increasing the walkability and decreasing reliance on cars will make parking less of a problem.

But more to the point of the post, downtown isn’t supposed to be a wonderland of surface parking lots. It’s supposed to be a dense area with lots of people and businesses, and events that bring more people from all over. If the downtown is a vibrant place, then people will deal with the parking issues (they will still complain, but they will still come). If you want lots of open parking, go to the suburbs — that’s what they’re good at.

There a good discussion in their comment section, so be sure to check that out while you’re reading through the original post.

Richmond restaurants have been getting lots of love from the national cable TV shows lately — Bobby Flay has been through a couple of times (or he’s been through once and he’s coming back through again soon) and Eric Ripert was spotted scouting the Richmond restaurant scene just last week.

There was even a Nightline news crew covering MVF while they were here: click here for the video, which I can’t seem to embed. It’s a Hulu video, so there are about 30 seconds of commercials, then skip ahead to 7:51 in the video by sliding the bar at the bottom. Watch through about 15:52 and you’ll get to see the entire MVF report.

The reason I’m posting this now is because the Richmond episode will be airing soon, on Saturday, July 3rd at 10:30 E/P ! Set it up on your calendar, set your DVR because you won’t want to miss this!

[edit (6/26/10, 4:31pm): regardless of what the Travel Channel says, I’ve gotten multiple reports from people that their DVRs and other things have shown them that the actual premiere date is Wednesday, June 30th at 9:00pm E/P — given the incorrect info that I was relying on earlier, I feel that I should warn you that while the date has been confirmed by multiple people, I found the time through some further research on the Travel Channel site]

Every once in a while a potential restaurant buyer will ask me about how any past ABC violations may affect the ABC licensing of a new establishment. Here’s a fairly extreme case, but an important lesson to learn (from a RTD article last week, “Former Velvet strip club site can’t sell alcohol“):

Under state law, the ABC Board may refuse to allow a hearing on a license request if a license for that location has been refused or revoked within 12 months.

….

“It is enforcement’s position that without a significant period of time separating the Velvet reputation and clientele from that location, the reopening of a similar establishment will contribute to the reoccurrence of the same issues dealt with in the Velvet hearing,” said Francis J. Monahan, director of the law-enforcement bureau.

Oh…what’s the lesson you say? Don’t mess with the Virginia ABC board! You may not agree with them and it may suck sometimes, but you have no choice but to play by their rules if you want to remain in business.

The commonly accepted distance that Americans are believed to be willing to walk is one-quarter-mile, which takes about 5-6 minutes to cover on foot. Many people, including Roger K. Lewis, of the Washington Post, believe we’re made of stronger stuff than that.

As Lewis pointed out in his column last week, people will walk for longer if the urban design lends itself to walking. There are a number of suggestions that Lewis details in his column, so there is no reason for me to belabor the point here. Go and read! (h/t to Gradon Tripp for tweeting about this article last week!)

We need to keep this in mind as we move forward here in Richmond.

And speaking of Richmond, what are some of the best examples of where Lewis’s suggestions have been applied here in RVA?

How far do you normally walk to go to dinner, get coffee, visit friends?

Every time you turn around in Richmond, there is a new restaurant popping up…well, pretty much everywhere! This week is no exception.

I’m not going to pretend that I’ll keep you up with ALL of the openings and closing through this blog, but I’ll keep up my tradition of sharing news when I’ve come across it and when there is a particularly active week or two I’ll compile the info and point you to where I’ve seen the news.

Speaking of which:

1) The old Fuddruckers at the intersection of West Broad Street and North Parham Road has been sold to Buz Grossberg to expand his Buz & Ned’s Barbeque concept to a second location from its original home on Boulevard. That was announced a few weeks ago or so. The reason why I think it’s noteworthy today is because of Buz’s interview with Al Harris of RichmondBizSense that was posted this morning. Lots of great info on his plans for the building, and how the deal worked when his last attempt at a new store didn’t.

3) Dos Amigos Burrito opened a couple of weeks ago on MacArthur Avenue in Northside, to replace a short-lived ice cream shop (posting from North Richmond News). From what I’ve heard, it’s related to Northside Grille around the corner on Bellevue.

4) Empress is opening with a “Grand Soiree” this Wednesday, 4/28, at 2403 West Broad Street (former location of Enoteca Sogno, and Ma Musu’s West African Cuisine before that). Check out this article on RVANews for more details on the restaurant and the Grand Soiree.

AND, there are plenty more on the immediate horizon! I can think of at least 5 others new restaurants that are coming soon, but they are all at a stage that I can’t spill the beans. Believe me, that you’ll be excited when you hear (and I’ll let you know as soon as they let me!).

If there are any others that I’ve missed, please share. We have a great restaurant scene here in Richmond, and it’s only getting better as we celebrate it!

I said my bit in a post yesterday, after seeing Alix’s videos — but there is SO much more that can be said, and she has a quite a few of the stories I have heard over the years about the rough days here in the Triangle. Be sure to read all about it!

There is a little-discussed part of Richmond’s Upper Fan/Museum District that was once a pretty rough area — “The Devil’s Triangle”, or as it is sometimes called, “The Bermuda Triangle”. Now it is an economic corridor with independent shops and restaurants that serve the residents of the Museum District, the Fan District, and anyone else that wants to wander through.

I lived in the area for several years back in the mid to late nineties, and I missed most of the rougher times but heard plenty about Felix’s, Cafe 21, and the Ritz — now Caliente, Cafe Diem, and Arianna’s.

We moved our offices over to 604 North Sheppard Street several years ago to be in the heart of the revitalization going on, and to show our commitment to the area. Our founder and CEO, Bedros Bandazian owns all of the commercial along this part of Sheppard Street except for the 7-Eleven, as well as some nearby commercial buildings — so there was already a strong commitment within the company to revitalizing the area. Our move made a further commitment, and of course we all patronize the surrounding businesses faithfully.

The transformation has taken another step with the most recent additions of:

Rich Holden, former owner of Felix, talks about how a two block area came to be known as The Devil’s Triangle. Located in Richmond, VA, this area was home to drug trafficking, prostitution, bar brawls and gunfights. The triangle consisted of three bars, The Felix, The Ritz, and Cafe 21.

Although Holden called it “The Bermuda Triangle,” that moniker is also commonly synonymous with “The Devil’s Triangle.”

[editor’s note: Richard Holden is now the Principal Broker and President here at Bandazian & Holden, Inc.]

I’m eagerly awaiting Alix’s article to go along with the videos, and if she’ll allow me I’ll share it with you in a later post — or at least I’ll link over to it! I greatly appreciate her allowing me to use the videos here, and encourage you to go to her Vimeo site to take a look at her other work!

If you haven’t visited the Devil’s Triangle in a while, you should! Visit the Black Hand for some coffee that was roasted right there on site. Come sit on Caliente’s patio and enjoy the spring breeze while you have dinner. Come listen to some amazing music down at Cafe Diem. Or explore one of the other shops or restaurants.

[edit (4/13/10, 2:27pm): After a couple of off-blog responses, I’m curious to ask — If you are familiar with the Devil’s Triangle, please share some memories of your time there with us in the comment section below!]

There is a contest underway from Google where the stakes are high: one or more communities somewhere in the USA will be the test market for Google’s high-speed fiber network. Here is the teaser from http://gigarva.com (who, in turn, took it from Google’s site, where it no longer seems to appear):

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

The nomination phase is over, and now we need to get everyone in Richmond (and anyone outside of Richmond that wants to support our efforts here) talking online about why Google should pick us! The next step of the process is going on now, and Google has been releasing updates on where each of the top nominated communities stand. The winners of this phase are being determined based on the online buzz that each community generates around their nomination (see Google’s recent analysis of the data so far in this .pdf file).

Here is Richmond’s official video for the promotion of the program. I think they did a great job with it! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZ78Y_TiyA]

Tweet about why you think Google should pick Richmond and reference @1GBforRVA at the end

Find a local online forum and talk about the 1GBforRVA initiative. Start discussions

Make videos about why Google should pick Richmond and post them online

Talk to your friends and family about the 1GBforRVA initiative and encourage them to participate

It doesn’t have to be anything complicated, and maybe you just have time to leave a single comment here or on 1GBforRVA’s Facebook page, but even that will help. Google is looking for an active online community that wants them to come here. (if you’re short on ideas for why Richmond is a great choice, check this out)

Let’s show them that Richmond can rally behind a common cause and that when we want something, we make it happen.

I think there are WAY too many lists out there, and they don’t mean much of anything to me anymore….well, unless Richmond ranks near the top, of course! Then I’m a sucker for the flattery and want to spread the news far and wide of how this prestigious award has been thoughtfully awarded to a well-deserved list of recipients.

Forbes has recently released a whole series of lists of the best cities in the USA for working mothers, each list covers the top ten cities in that particular category. Mint.com then compiled some fancy graphics for each of the list, and I didn’t see a peep on any of it until a friend of mine at AgentGenius.com posted it in one of her posts. (so she gets the link and you can see all of the source info through her post)

Here is where Richmond ranked on the lists where we ranked. The others don’t really count, right?

St. John’s Realty has been in the property management business almost as long as we have here at Bandazian & Holden. While I haven’t seen a record of what year they started, I’ve been told that they have been doing residential property management for somewhere between 20-30 years. (FYI – B&H was founded in 1974.)

With the passing last year of the founder and principal brokerowner, Danny Athans [edited 3/23/10, per information from Church Hill People’s News — link to announcement here], the future of St. John’s Realty was unsure. I am proud to announce that we at Bandazian & Holden have stepped up to take over the accounts, and all of the years of hard work by St. John’s Realty will not go to waste.

There are a lot of other details that will be forthcoming, but there is a lot of work that we are doing right now to get in touch with the property owners and tenants to alert them to the change, and to get all of the files in order.

We are very excited for the opportunity to serve this new group of property owners and tenants, and to expand our presence in Church Hill!

Sperity

Sperity is a coined term, a combination of Inspire, Prosperity, and Integrity. We strive to bring all of those aspects to every interaction that we have, whether it is with a client, a customer, a competitor, or with anyone else.

We are a commercial real estate and business brokerage firm that works under a different model than anything else we've seen in the field. With the emphasis on treating our employees as a team, we incentivize excellent customer service and making sure that the whole company is working on every deal that we take on.
We specialize in working with restaurants, churches, and real estate developers. Each member of our team comes with an extensive background in one or more of these specialized fields. Before taking on projects outside of these specializations, we analyze each one on a case by case basis to be sure that we will provide superior results.Learn More